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Lebanese, Nepali captives in Iraq freed

Two Lebanese and one Nepali held captive in Iraq have been freed, officials said.

05 Nov 2004 10:43 GMT

The family of Muhammad Husain hold his picture

Marwan Kassar and Muhammad Husain, who had been working in Iraq for the Lebanese power equipment firm al-Jbaili, were taken by car from Falluja, where they had been held, to Baghdad on Wednesday.

They flew to Damascus the next day and then travelled by land to Lebanon. The two men said they were captured on 25 August near Ramadi while on their way from Amman to Baghdad, by a group of about 60 militiamen from the Islamic Army in Iraq (IAI), according to officials.

There were no details on the exact circumstances of their release, including whether a ransom had been paid.

Captors' statement

On 2 October, an internet statement in the name of the IAI said the group was holding the two men and gave Beirut an ultimatum to stop its nationals working for the US-led military in Iraq.

Scores of foreign workers havebeen taken captive in Iraq

A US-Lebanese man working for Iraq's transport ministry was seized on Wednesday from his house in Baghdad.

About 25 Lebanese working for private companies have been captured in Iraq and then set free, mostly for ransom.

Four Lebanese, however, have been killed in the war-torn country.

Nepali freed

Meanwhile, a Nepali cook seized by Iraqi armed fighters earlier this week from an office in Baghdad has been released, a Nepali foreign ministry spokesman said on Friday.

"The episode which started early this week has come to a happy end," Durga Prasad Bhattarai said in Kathmandu. "The family has been informed about his release." He did not give any details about how the man was freed.